As someone that works for a civil engineering consultant in the transportation field I can attest to the bureaucracy from the State leading to higher costs. We

As someone that works for a civil engineering consultant in the transportation field I can attest to the bureaucracy from the State leading to higher costs. We routinely increase our bids because we know that the amount of time spent dealing with them will be large and delt with by a high paided, often highest paid, person on the project. There are quite a few things that we do to appease them people at state DOTs that we don't have to worry about when working with a City or private entity. It come down to two things, in my opinion. First is the nightmare that is Federal funding. The State administers the funding and has to take funding for multiple Federal programs a put it toward a given project. Ultimately they pass the paperwork off to the consultant instead of doing it themselves. Second is the number of people in positions of power that are only in that position due to time spent with the State. These individuals are ineffective at their job (see point 1), and feel they have to justify their position by critiquing stupid things. One example is when we tried to use a different san serif font and column justification on a report. We got a stearns talking to about how ariel is the preferred font and left justified is the preference of the individual. This of course took a half hour meeting that likely cost north of $500 when you account for the wages of the engineers involved.